


The Ambivalence of Confidence

by BlueBird_1323



Series: Elemental Master Escapades [3]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: (don’t worry about that tag it’s nothing serious), (only in chapter 2 once), Attempt at Humor, Bisexual Male Character, Chaos Ensues, Comedy, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Light-Hearted, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, mind altering, self-deprecation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29853729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueBird_1323/pseuds/BlueBird_1323
Summary: Helping a friend become more confident in themselves isn’t an abnormal thing. Neuro knows that as a fact. What is abnormal however is said friend wanting their personality to be altered for a day just to feel confident.And yet Neuro still agreed to do it.It’s a race against the clock for Neuro to turn Paleman back to normal before he does something to embarrass himself. And perhaps even more concerning, before Tox finds out.
Series: Elemental Master Escapades [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121546
Comments: 22
Kudos: 13





	1. The Creation of a Monster

“Now, Paleman, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yep.”

“Are you positive?”

“Uh-huh.”

It was early in the afternoon, the sun high in the sky and casting down a harsh glare that was infamous with the hot summers in this region of Ninjago. And yet, the light didn’t penetrate through the windows of Neuro’s home, not today at least. Neuro had drawn most of the curtains in his house, both at the request of his guest and at the nagging of his increasing paranoia.

He closed the final curtains in his living room, glancing over his shoulder to his visitor, only to be met with the blank and literal empty stare of Paleman. Neuro paused and let out a shaky and unstable sigh. Usually Paleman was the nervous one out of the two, but Neuro found a sense of unease rising up in himself as Paleman sat calm and still.

He steeled his nerves temporarily and approached, taking the seat across from him. “And... you’ve thought this through?” He asked in a hushed tone, leaning forward.

“Yup. You gave me a whole week to think about it and I don’t do much, so... yeah. Had a lot of time to think.” Paleman calmly said, finishing off his sentence with a shrug. “Plus, this isn’t permanent. I shouldn’t be too concerned. It’s just for a day, right?”

Neuro nodded, though uncertainty crossed onto his face. “I’m worried. There are... better ways for you to feel more confident. I’m sure Griffin, or perhaps the ninja could help you.”

“Eh...” Paleman shrugged. “I just want a taste of it. Plus, you can undo it.”

“This is reckless.”

Paleman leaned forward, placing his hand on Neuro’s shoulder, an odd gesture from the invisible man. “It’ll be fine. I trust you.”

Those last three words were a punch to Neuro’s gut. He couldn’t help but think if something went wrong, he would be to blame and would’ve broken Paleman’s hard earned trust. Even worse, if something bad happened, Tox would have his head.

Or _worse_. She was the master of poison, after all.

“Now come on.” Paleman leaned back in his seat and Neuro could hear the smile and excitement in his voice. “Let’s do this. Like a science experiment! You like learning, right?”

“I do, yes.” 

“So this is an experience to learn! You can learn what else you can do, and how that can affect people!” Paleman sounded ecstatic. “There’s nothing to lose.”

“Besides my reputation, general safety, and your well being...” Neuro half whispered, half grumbled, but sighed and placed both hands on his legs. “Alright. No more procrastinating. If you ever feel uncomfortable or want me to stop, tell me.”

“Yep.”

“Now...” Neuro let out a slow breath, “Paleman, I want you to close your eyes and to clear your mind. Let go of all thoughts, and fall into a comfortable nothingness.”

With curiosity, he observed as Paleman’s body slowly relaxed into the chair, how he took off his hat and placed it over his face as if he were going to sleep. It was foreign, seeing his usually hunched up and uptight friend suddenly become so calm and carefree.

Feeling that it may take awhile for Paleman to fully calm down, Neuro let his own mind slip into his worries. This truly was an utterly stupid idea. Why did he even agree to this? Tampering with the mind was a dangerous thing, and he had very little to no practice with it either. There were so many ways this could go wrong, _too_ many ways, each way having a concerning amount of permanent effects.

Paleman had approached Neuro a week earlier. He had been glad to see him again, to be in his company once more. While Paleman was an odd fellow, Neuro didn’t mind at all, and found his usual quietness soothing. However, Paleman had made an odd request that night. He could remember how Pale swirled his cup of tea around before asking,

_“Can you help me be more confident?”_

While Neuro had known Paleman was fretting during their entire encounter, he was still caught off guard by the question. They talked about it long into the night, and following many hours, the mood had shifted to a much lighter tone. Neuro had made a joke about seeing if he could go in Pale’s mind and ‘fix’ it. Paleman had laughed at it and nothing more, so it quickly left his mind as they continued to chat.

That was until Paleman was leaving to go home, when he had turned to Neuro and asked, _“Could you really do that? Make me more confident?”_

And that had lead to this, a week later.

His mind flickered back to the present, and his eyes flickered to Paleman. He truly was going to regret this, wasn’t he?

“I’m going to start the procedure now. Remember, keep your mind clear.”

Now was no time to falter. Neuro closed his eyes and placed a finger against his temple, forcing himself to calm down and begin to enter and unravel Pale’s mind. Surely if he could change people’s thoughts, he could change how Paleman thought about himself... right?

—————————————————————————————

Neuro opened his eyes and fell back into his seat, clutching onto the armrests of his chair with laboured breath. As it turns out, manipulating specific pieces of someone’s personality was more difficult than he assumed it to be. Not that he had thought it was going to be easy, but he certainly hadn’t expected it to be this difficult either.

Paleman’s mind was a maze. Honestly, it challenged Hiroshi’s Labyrinth in complexity with its twists and turns, not to mention how many times Neuro almost accidentally delved into Paleman’s memories. They simply popped up out of nowhere, only to take a few seconds to disappear as if they never appeared in the first place. There were no rhyme or reason to them, at least not to Neuro. And from what accidental glimpses Neuro had, there were no connections with the memories either. In retrospect, he found it fascinating how Paleman’s anxious nature materialized in his own thoughts.

But he had done it. At least, he thought he had. Failure and mistakes were always a possibility.

Neuro straightened up slowly and stood, ignoring the wave of dizziness that passed over him. “Paleman?” He asked gently in a voice just above a whisper, approaching his friend. “Paleman, the procedure is complete. How do you feel?”

He was met with pure silence. Neuro’s heart stopped.

“Paleman?” He asked more frantically, walking over to the chair and shaking Paleman’s arm. His own heartbeat filled his ears and the blood drained from his face as terror hit him like a truck. His actions began to dawn on him.

What had he been thinking?! Tampering with someone’s personality was a horrible idea!

Neuro grabbed harshly on Paleman’s shoulders, shaking him in desperation. “ _Paleman?!_ Oh First Spinjitzu Master, what have I done?!”

“...huh?” A groggy and muffled response came from behind Paleman’s hat. Neuro jumped away, placing a hand on his chest and letting out a loud sigh of relief.

“Oh thank goodness! I thought I had killed you, or worse.”

“Nah, I fell asleep.” Paleman grumbled with a small stretch, moving his hat back onto his head. “You uh... you good?” He added on with a laugh.

“Hm? Oh, yes. I was simply scared, that’s all.” Neuro said but quickly brushed it off. “How are you feeling? Any... headache, sickness, nausea of any kind?” He asked while he took a few steps forward. “Signs of discomfort?” Paleman stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head and standing up, chuckling.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Promise. But I uh... I’m feeling good. Great even.”

Neuro let out another sigh of relief, a much quieter one. “Ah, good. But before you do anything, I must advise to be careful. As you said, this is an experiment, and we need to make sure things go as planned. Maybe you should stay here for a bit—“

“Relax.” Paleman cut him off, placing his hand on Neuro’s shoulder and squeezing it gently. If the first incident of touching was odd, Neuro found this even weirder. “I’m fine. I told ya. Plus, I wanna give this confidence a test run! I got things to do today, so I’ll check in later, m’kay?”

“Well, I—“ Neuro began but Paleman had started up again.

“There we go.” Neuro could practically feel the smile radiating off him as he spoke, only to be furthered by the friendly pat Paleman gave his shoulder before turning around and walking away. “Talk later!”

And before Neuro could get out another word, Pale swaggered up to the front door and promptly left the house, sending Neuro off with a final wave before leaving completely.

Neuro stood alone in his darkened living room, left speechless and staring at the door. A nagging knot of fear grew steadily in his stomach as it slowly began to dawn on him once more as to what he had just unleashed into Ninjago. He had just completely changed a core part of one of his friend’s personalities, and done so in a way that the person was no longer willing to listen to him. He didn’t just make Paleman more confident, he had made him cocky and careless. He had altered him entirely.

“What have I done.”


	2. Griffin Turner: Master Thinker

“Annnnnnnnnd,” Griffin skidded to a halt and slammed his hand down on the timer, “new record!” He let out a whoop of joy, jumping in his spot. He had been trying for weeks now to beat his top time of fourteen seconds for running around Ninjago City’s gardens, working day after day and training as much as he could.

Which was practically every waking second for him. Ninjago City hadn’t had any trouble lately, no people to protect, no world ending disasters, so Griffin had been bored out of his mind. He could never stay occupied for long anyways...

He leaned against a nearby tree, pausing to catch his breath but smiling gleefully. _Ten seconds_. He could hardly believe it, especially on such a hot day. He had truly done it!

“Hey.”

A voice from behind him made him jolt. Griffin whipped around, ready to respond to some cry for help from a civilian, only to be met with the familiar pair of golden sunglasses.

“Oh! Hey Paleman! What’s up?” He asked with a smile but took a moment to observe him. 

Instead of the maroon blazer and pants that Paleman usually wore, he instead sported a dark purple suit with a white dress shirt, which oddly enough wasn’t buttoned up all the way. Another odd thing Griffin made a note of was the lack of golden medallion that usually dangled from Paleman’s neck.

“Damn, you’re looking fresh. New coat?” Griffin added.

“Nah, not new.” Paleman said cooly, brushing some dust off his shoulder. “Just decided to spice my wardrobe up for once and dug this out. But anyways, nothing much is up. Just decided to pop into Ninjago City, find something to do.”

“Uh-huh, sure.” Griffin snickered. “You’re not coming here for some special occasion? Because you don’t dress up like this often. I mean, you dress flashier than most people I know, but my point still stands.” He was expecting Paleman to hunch up his shoulders and make some flustered remark, but much to his surprise, Paleman laughed along with him.

“What? Can’t a guy dress up to feel good?” Paleman said and adjusted his coat, “Because I’m feeling _fine_.” He added on with a small bit of melody in his voice, his tone smooth.

Griffin took another rare moment to pause, a put off smile on his face. Paleman was acting... differently. Sure, he had seen when Paleman shifted his charisma level to one hundred, but those were in dire situations. Even the way he stood was different, shoulders relaxed and standing tall with pride.

After knowing someone who had no facial expressions for so long, he knew how to read the body language.

But brushing that aside, he gave him a gentle punch on the arm. “Well dang! Guess you woke up on the right side of the bed today. And listen if you plan on staying in the city more, we could hang out and do stuff! I just gotta run home real quick. It’ll only take me a minute.”

“Thanks.” Paleman chuckled. “But don’t rush yourself. Plus, don’t want to drag you into my business.”

“Business?” Griffin asked with a tilt of his head. “But you just said you came here to _find_ something to do, not that you _had_ something to do.”

“Yeah, well,” Paleman shrugged, “I came up with an idea. Have you seen Shade lately?”

That’s an odd question.

“Shade?” Griffin took a few seconds to answer, thinking back and tapping his hand against the tree as he did so. “Uh, I have. Think he’s still here. Why?”

“I wanna go hangout with him.”

“Oh, okay! Well uh, mind if I join in? I’ve been itching to do something lately. Ninjago City has been so boring lately. No one to save, nothing to do, there’s not even any exciting things going on! Like no new movies, no conventions, nothing! So—“ Griffin rambled but was cut short by Pale leaning in close and dropping his voice to a whisper, though his tone was still smooth and warm.

“Can I tell you something? To keep between us.”

Odd. Paleman never got this close to him. Not to mention he _never_ spoke about things that were secrets. This had to be serious. Griffin shifted a little but inched closer, dropping his voice to a whisper as well.

“Of course man. I’ll keep it safe.”

“Well,” — Paleman quickly looked around before leaning back in again — “don’t you think Shade’s kinda hot?”

For the first time in his life, Griffin had no words.

He stood there, body uncomfortably still, sputtering and scrambling for something to say as his face heated up as quickly as his elemental power. What was he even supposed to say to that? Why did _Paleman_ out of all people say that?! That was something that would come out of Chamille’s mouth, not Paleman’s!

Though he did think about it for a moment.

“Well, I-... um,” his body regained movement as he struggled to speak, twitching a little, “I’m not really the person to be askin’ this, man. I uh... don’t really pay attention to that most of the time. But uh... if I think about it, yeah?” He steadied himself before speaking again, his mood shifting to something similar to excitement. “Why are you askin’? Planning on going after him or something? Because if so, I’m here, I’ll be your wingman.”

Paleman let out a loud laugh, quickly covering his mouth and leaning fully against the tree. Apparently the quietness and subtlety between the two of them had disappeared. “Oh, if only. I’d love to, really, but look at me Griffin. Half of the time I can’t even get out of bed in the morning.” — he took a pause — “Whoops! That was too much information — pretend you never heard that.”

Griffin let out a laugh, the most uncomfortable thing he had forced out of himself. “Got it.”

“A guy can hope.” Paleman sighed dreamily, returning to the former topic as if nothing happened. “But yeah, I’m gonna go see if he’s around. Maybe visit Tox if she’s in town. You can pop by once you finish doing whatever you need to do, be my ‘wingman’.” He chuckled and began to walk off. “Oh, and Griffin?” He called out.

Griffin raised his eyebrow a little. “Yeah?”

“You look great today.” And with that, turned back around and walked into the city, pep and swagger in his step. Griffin stared blankly at him, then down at himself.

Did he actually look good? Because he just ran around the gardens in ten seconds on a hot summer day. And it wasn’t just that that threw him off, no, it was how Paleman talked too. He wasn’t as reserved as usual, spoke loudly — albeit for his standards — and practically had no shame. Plus, he’d never say ‘you look great today’ ; he would say something like ‘I like what you’re wearing’ or ‘you look nice’ and then become flustered because he wouldn’t want anyone to take it the wrong way.

Something was going on...

“I mean he seems happy though...” Griffin mumbled out loud, picking up his timer, “so it can’t be too serious, right?”

With that, he gave a small shrug, and prepared himself for the quick run home.

A vibrate from his pocket stopped him. He groaned, pulling out his phone and grumbled “What now? Man I just wanna go home and shower.” He didn’t even look at who was calling and picked up, answering cheerily. “Hey! Who—“

_“HAVE YOU SEEN PALEMAN?!”_

Griffin nearly dropped his phone as he jumped, fumbling to put it back by his ear again. “Yo calm down! Who is this?”

_“Oh, apologies. This is Neuro. Now, have you seen or been in contact with Paleman today?!”_ His voice was frantic. This day kept getting weirder.

“Chill, chill. I’ve seen him. In fact, he was just here. I was running around the city’s gardens and he popped up right behind me. He’s been acting kinda weird, not like himself.” Griffin said, unconsciously pacing around as he talked. He was about to add on Pale’s remark about Shade but remembered that he had been sworn to secrecy.

_“Is he still there with you?”_

“No, why?”

_“Oh, no...”_ Neuro groaned and Griffin could hear him drag his hand down his face through the phone. _“Do you know where he went? This is of the utmost importance.”_

“Well, thing is...” Griffin let out a nervous laugh, “I don’t know _where_ exactly he went. But, he did say he wanted to go hangout with Shade and maybe visit Tox. But seriously, what’s going on?”

There was silence on the other side of the phone. Griffin opened his mouth to talk again but Neuro finally responded. _”This is worse than I thought. We need to stop him. My life is on the line!”_

Griffin started to laugh only to stop abruptly when he realized Neuro wasn’t laughing along. “So... this isn’t a prank?”

_“No! Why would I pull a prank on you?”_

“Well there was that one party with Paleman and Ash—“

_“Griffin, I’m serious!”_ Neuro scrambled. _“I may have made a... small error. And I desperately need help.”_

Griffin stopped himself from laughing. “The master of the mind messed up _again?_ This is becoming a reoccurring issue, man. Didn’t know you were so reckless.” His laughter rose up in tiny giggles as he heard Neuro sputter.

_“Now is not the time!”_ He scolded. Griffin could practically imagine how red his face was and quieted his increasing laughter. _“I may have... altered Paleman slightly and I have regretted it instantly. We need to change him back to normal before Tox finds out.”_

“Wait, we? I didn’t agree to this!” Griffin exclaimed as he skidded to a halt from his pacing. This was suddenly not as funny as before. “I don’t want Tox comin’ after me!”

_“How do you think I feel?!”_ Neuro hissed, but sighed. _“Listen, I trust you, and we can work well together. Plus, this requires speed, and you are the fastest man alive.”_ There was a small pause before he went on. _“Also haven’t you been bored lately? See this as adventure.”_

The idea of an adventure instantly snapped Griffin out of his worries of Tox hunting him down. “You’ve pulled my leg, Nerdo! I’m in!” He said while he jumped a little in his spot, elated. There was an annoyed sigh from the other line.

_“Besides that name, good. I’ll meet you where you are. Can you manage to stay put for a bit longer?”_ Griffin rolled his eyes at that remark but nodded.

“Yeah yeah, just don’t waste any time. If this is as drastic as you say, we gotta get moving!”

_“I’ll be there as quickly as possible.”_

“Oh and Neuro! Just wanna add on that if we get caught for this, I’m totally leaving you with Tox.” Griffin blurted out before quickly hanging up, snickering as he did so. He shoved his phone back into his pocket, fighting back the waves of laughter that washed over him. Honestly, he had no idea why Neuro was still friends with him, but was happy regardless.

Even if Neuro was going to chew him out when he arrived for the nickname and that last remark.

Eh, whatever. Griffin shrugged a little at that and zoomed over to a bench, plopping down and preparing to do what he hated most. _Waiting_. He didn’t even have anything to do to pass the time! Even worse, he still wanted to shower but now he couldn’t. Sure, he definitely could’ve run home and had one, but knowing Neuro he would read his mind and be like ‘I told you to stay put’ or something like that. He could practically hear him now ; ‘Can’t you listen to me for once, Griffin?’

Did his nagging bug him? Yeah, of course. But it was nothing serious. However... it still got him riled up. It also got him thinking.

And thank the First Spinjitzu Master it did. An idea popped up in his head.

“Oh I’ll show you what I can do.” Griffin schemed as he pulled out his phone again, smiling proudly to himself at his plan. “I’ll be an even bigger help!” His smile grew as he scrolled through his contacts, eyes landing on the name ‘edgy shadow man’. “I bet even Neuro didn’t— oh hey we haven’t texted in weeks.”

Griffin’s idea was slowly swept away as he began to look through his and Shade’s last conversation. As soon as his genius plan came to mind, it was gone almost as quickly. He never had the best focus anyways.

Yep. Griffin Turner, master thinker.


	3. The Cat’s Out of the Bag

“Aight aight so, let me get this straight.” Griffin stopped pacing once more, turning to Neuro. Neuro was folded over himself on the bench, head in his hands.

“Griffin, _please—_ “

“So you, master of the mind, was convinced by Paleman to make him more confident, and you actually went through with it? You dove into Paleman’s mind, tweaked him, and then just- just let him out into the world?” Griffin rambled, breaking out into a grin. Neuro sighed heavily and grumbled.

“Yes.”

“And-... and you didn’t think through what that would do to him?”

“No.”

“And you’re not sick?”

“No.”

That was enough for the master of speed. He burst into laughter once more, only getting louder as Neuro glared at him through his fingers. People were beginning to stare and Neuro’s face felt like it was on fire.

“Keep it down, will you?!” He hissed, giving the side eye to a group of observing people nearby. “This is serious.”

“Nah man, this is funny!” He wheezed.

“No, it’s not!” Neuro shouted but quickly dropped his voice again, only to have Griffin laugh harder. “Tox is going to kill me, I’ll be a laughing stock, and Paleman is going to do... something to embarrass himself! Who knows if I’ll be able to reverse this, we could be stuck with this variation of Paleman forever!” Neuro shot his hands into the air, only to quickly bring them back down and run them through his hair. Griffin’s laughing ceased as he sat down next to his friend, placing a hand on his back.

“C’mon, don’t think like that!” He offered a small smile when Neuro looked over. “If uh... if we can’t fix this, I’m sure the ninja can! Yeah! Like with their fancy tea-things!” Neuro covered his face again.

“Oh no, please, I don’t want them to know as well. It’s bad enough you know. They at least hold me to some higher degree, unlike you.”

“I mean it’s kinda hard to when you keep making stupid mistakes like this...” Griffin trailed off and quickly put on a big, overly apologetic smile.

“You’re not helping.” Neuro grumbled.

“Oh wait!” Griffin hopped up, starting his pacing again. There was now a clear path a few centimetres deep in the ground. “That reminds me, I came up with an idea earlier to try and help! But...”

Neuro glanced up through his hands again. “But?”

“I uh...” He forced out a laugh, “I forgot. I got distracted.”

“Of course you did.” Neuro sighed, finally straightening up. “Give me a moment, I’ll find it for you.”

“Thanks man. Don’t mess with my personality while you’re in there.” Griffin snickered. Neuro didn’t reply and only narrowed his eyes, but closed them fully in attempted concentration. 

He had been in Griffin’s mind before, on many occasions actually, and every time he left he swore he’d never go back. If Paleman’s mind was a maze, Griffin’s was an obstacle course. Every way he turned, he’d have to dodge incoming thoughts that sped by like bullets. His mind was cluttered and disorganized, so finding anything was absolute hell. If there was any advantage to exploring Griffin’s mind, it was making Neuro realize that Griffin had to live like this all the time. The poor man.

He opened his eyes once he finally found Griffin’s aforementioned idea. “Shade. You were going to text Shade.” His friend’s face lit up like a lightbulb.

“Oh yeah! Thanks!”

“Wait.” Neuro said suddenly, getting up. Griffin froze mid action of getting his phone out. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

Griffin stared at him blankly. “Why?”

Neuro looked around cautiously, wringing his hands together, before coming closer. He spoke in a whisper once again. “I don’t want more people finding out about this, Griffin. Yes, I have made mistakes before, but nothing like this. I haven’t... altered someone’s mind like this on such an extreme level. I’ve changed and influenced thoughts, yes, but not... not changing someone’s entire personality.”

“We can fix it.” Griffin said softly.

“But what if we _can’t?_ ” Neuro asked with desperation. “What if he’s stuck like this forever?”

“Well... I doubt that would happen.” Griffin said after a pause. “And even if that does happen, I don’t think it’s hurting him any. He seemed to be in a really good mood when I saw him earlier.”

Neuro pressed his mouth into a thin line and sighed. “But what does it mean for us if that happens? It’s like we’re meeting a new person all over again. And oh, poor Tox... you know how close those two are, it’ll be like she’s losing a life-long friend.”

“We can do something—“

“And-... and what does this mean for me?” Neuro began to ramble, eyes widening. “This is truly one of the most stupid things I have ever done. If more people find out, they-... they’ll think I’m reckless, or someone to be feared. In fact, why aren’t they already afraid of me now? They know I can change how people think, who’s to say they won’t begin thinking that I have altered them into liking me? Griffin, what if they start turning against me? What if they leave? I-... I don’t—“

He was cut off abruptly by Griffin placing his hands firmly on Neuro’s shoulders, his sunglasses resting on the top of his head. 

“ _Neuro_ ,” Griffin said gently while locking their gazes together, “you’re a super smart dude. Smartest guy I know. We _will_ figure something out. And Neuro, man, you're not reckless, no one’s going to see you as reckless because of this one thing. You always think things through and are always prepared! Did you mess up? Yeah. We all do. I mess up a lot. And that’s okay. The thing is, even with what you did, you did it from a very good place in your heart.” — he took one hand and gently poked Neuro’s chest — “You did this to help your friend because you knew he was struggling. You’re a good person, man.” Griffin gave him a warm smile before stepping back, flipping his sunglasses back down over his eyes.

Neuro remained silent when Griffin stepped away, face flushed. “I um...” he tried to start but all but few words eluded him. “Thank you, truly. I’m not sure what to say in the moment besides thank you. When I have, er, calmed down more, I’ll try to get it out better.”

“No worries, man!” Griffin smiled. “Now c’mon, Shade might be able to help. Or maybe we could even warn him if Paleman isn’t there yet.”

As if one cue, Neuro’s phone rang.

Neuro jolted at the sound but quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket, squinting at the screen to try and get through the glare of the sun. Any remaining heat in his cheeks from Griffin’s spiel drained in an instant when he recognized the caller.

“Speak of the devil...” He gulped.

“Huh?” Griffin zipped over and looked over his shoulder. “Uh oh. Put him on speaker phone, I wanna talk too.” Neuro sputtered but reluctantly obliged, picking up.

“Er, hello? Shade?”

_“What did you do to Paleman.”_ It wasn’t asked as a question but said as a statement.

“Hey man!” Griffin blurted before Neuro could answer. He cringed.

_“Griffin? You’re there too?”_

“Uh-huh! Anyways, what d’you need?” He continued on without a care.

_“Well, I’d like for my friend to be back to normal. So Neuro, what did you do?”_ He stated bluntly.

“Haha, well... you see,” Neuro laughed, rubbing the side of his arm, “I may have... altered him slightly.”

_“Cut the crap. Just tell me what you did and we’ll find some way to get him back to normal. I don’t like him acting like a hybrid of some smooth talker and Kai.”_ There was a small pause before Shade went on. _“You can undo this, right?”_

“The thing is... I don’t know.” Neuro admitted. There was a massive pause before Shade spoke again.

_“...what?”_

“Ohhh nooo, looks like we’re breaking up!” Griffin intervened. “ _Scht bzzt_ , talk later! Meet at _bzzt_ Chen’s! _Sczt bzz_ bring Paleman!”

_”Griffin I know it’s not bad signal—“_

“Yes _bzzzzz_ it is!” And snatched Neuro’s phone out of his hand, hanging up. The two stared blankly at each other before Neuro’s eyes widened once more in the ‘I’m going to panic’ way and Griffin broke out into nervous laughter, handing the phone back gingerly.

“We’re going out into the public with Paleman like this? And at Chen’s, where Skylor is?!” Neuro shouted. “I do truly appreciate your speech earlier, and I have taken your words to heart, but I’m still trying to prevent as many people as possible from knowing about this.”

“What?” Griffin asked innocently, shrugging. “I’m hungry!”

Neuro stared, dumbfounded. Maybe, just _maybe_ , bringing Griffin into this was a bad idea.

“I am actually going to have fully white hair by the end of this. And I’m blaming you.” He uttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Yo I can buy some hair dye if you want.”

Definitely a bad idea.

—————————————————————————————

“Ugh, idiot.” Shade grumbled, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Surely Griffin didn’t believe his poor imitations of radio static tricked him. Griffin wasn’t _that_ stupid. At least, he didn’t think he was. He hoped he wasn’t.

But now, that left him with Paleman. Or what should’ve been Paleman, because this obviously wasn’t him.

Yeah yeah, Paleman told him what Neuro did, but he wanted to hear it from the man himself. Did he trust Paleman? Yeah, sort of. Sure, he’s done his fair share of pranks, but didn’t lie often and could keep a secret like no one else. Part of him hoped that this was a joke that Pale was taking a bit further than normal, but he definitely would have faltered or broken character at this point. Maybe he was just a good actor?

Shade had no idea. The reason Pale was good at keeping secrets was because he kept to himself most of the time. And now that he thought about it, he knew very little about his invisible friend. He could name things like Pale’s favourite songs, or his favourite colour, or even his favourite place to eat, but didn’t know a single thing about him before the tournament happened. Nothing about his personal life, a job if he had one, nothing. 

He looked over his shoulder. Paleman was sprawled out on the couch, scrolling through some social media site. He sighed.

“Pale,” Shade said as he headed to the door. Paleman immediately focused when he heard his name. “Get your coat, we’re heading out.”

“Out?” Pale asked while hopping up, voice prickling with excitement. “Where are we going?”

“Chen’s.”

“Nice!” Before Shade knew it, Paleman was by his side, purple blazer hanging lazily over his shoulder. “I was actually about suggest something like that. I’m starving. It’s been an exciting day for me, you know.”

“I know. You’ve told me.” He found himself saying with a slight laugh, already out the door. He paused in a moment of spontaneity, looking behind him to his friend. “You should wear purple more. It suits you.”

Much like his laugh, he found himself smiling at Pale’s reaction. He seemed to almost jump, with shoulders raised and body stiff. For once he reacted like his old self.

“Oh! Well aren’t you in a good mood? You rarely ever compliment people.” Pale joked as he caught up to him, the fluidity returning to his body. “And I just might. I have quite a few more things hiding in my closet somewhere.”

“You’re so ridiculous.”

“Oh c’mon!” He laughed. “I bet I could find something in there that’d match you too.”

“We’re going to Chen’s, not getting me an entirely new set of clothes. Plus, I’m good with black and grey.”

“You’d look nice in wine red and—“

“I thought you were hungry?”

“Uh yeah... hungry for fashion.”

“...never say that again.”


End file.
